Dispute registered over plans for Nottingham College redundancies

UNISON has launched an official dispute with Nottingham College after members were told that they could lose their jobs – just as they broke for their summer holidays. General secretary Dave Prentis has written to the Nottinghamshire branch pledging support. The union registered the official dispute after it, and teaching union UCU, were only told about the plans to delete the equivalent of 165 full-time posts on 7 July – after the formal end of term on 4 July. By that time, many members had already gone on their holidays. On top of that, many of the workers are on term-time only contracts, leading UNISON rep Carol Warren to say: “This could not have come at a worse time.” In total, some 385 workers are at risk of redundancy, says the college, which was formed recently by the merger of the city’s Central College and New College. Because many of the affected workers are on term-time only contracts, UNISON is warning that the college’s timing means that meaningful consultation on the collective redundancies – which is required by law – will be “very problematic”. Branch organiser Jo Myers added that, “despite UNISON asking the college to share its plans for staffing structures and possible redundancies for the past 14 months, we still have not had sight of either the college’s strategy or a business case for the removal of selected posts.” The college is looking for voluntary redundancies, but the numbers it is talking about will still mean huge cuts t...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: Article News East Midlands education services further education nottingham nottinghamsire redundancies redundancy Source Type: news